Does this machine satisfy today's minimum gaming requirements?

[blahsome]

Hi, all, I recently upgraded my PIII 450MHz machine with a PIII 1GHz processor. However, it still has a 100FSB and uses PC100 RAM. Its video card is also pretty old--a 32MB ATI Rage Fury, I believe.

I'm not trying to do anything fancy with it, but I'd like to know if it can play games such as Quake 3 and Return to Castle with an OK experience? Maybe with a video card upgrade?

If it will benefit from video card upgrade, what kind of cards do you recommend?

I'm a graphic card and gaming newbie.

Thanks a lot!

 

[EdipisReks]

your processor is fine. how much money do you have for the graphics card upgrade, and do you want to do anything with it besides games? if all you want is gaming, then get a geforce3 ti200. if you want dual head and really great dvd, then get a radeon 7500 or 8500. if you want all kinds of multimedia stuff (tv tuner, etc) then get a radeon 8500dv. if you are on a budget, a radeon1 ddr, a geforce2 gts, or the kyro II would all be good choices.

hope that helps.

--jacob

 

[blahsome]

EdipisReks, thanks for your reply!

I play games occasionally but browse the web constantly. So I guess 2D text is still my emphasis. I just need a card that will enable me to play the current games.

I don't want to spend $50 for a game only to find out my ATI Rage Fury will be embarassed and ashamed of itself. I'm a very considerate person, who firmly believes hardware has feelings

 

[ck1016]

I just replaced a rage fury with a new Ti 200, it was like going from night to day. The rage fury will run quake 3 and wolf, I was playing both with it just fine but frames were a little slow. If you go with a card like the ti 200's you will be able to run most any game you want.

 

[EdipisReks]

if 2d is what you want most, then i would suggest the radeon 7500 (geforce2 pro speed equaivalent or higher) or 8500 (geforce3 speed equivalent or higher). either one is very nice, and ATi has made great strides with their drivers. just choose the one that fits your budget.

--jacob

 

[Daovonnaex]

<< Hi, all, I recently upgraded my PIII 450MHz machine with a PIII 1GHz processor. However, it still has a 100FSB and uses PC100 RAM. Its video card is also pretty old--a 32MB ATI Rage Fury, I believe.

I'm not trying to do anything fancy with it, but I'd like to know if it can play games such as Quake 3 and Return to Castle with an OK experience? Maybe with a video card upgrade?

If it will benefit from video card upgrade, what kind of cards do you recommend?

I'm a graphic card and gaming newbie.

Thanks a lot! >>

You'll be able to play those games, but it won't be a great experience. Assuming you want to spend just under $100, then a GeForce 2 Ti would be good. For about $40 more, you could buy a Radeon 7500, and for about $30 more than the 7500, you could could buy a GeForce 3 Ti200. For some $200, you could buy a Radeon 8500.

 

[Killrose]

Go with the Radeon 7500. For the price they can't be beat. I play RTCW with mine and love it. Though I have quite a bit more CPU power than you, I still think 1024x768 32 bit will be fully playable, you might have to play with some quality settings turned down though when online.

 

[cmaMath13]

I think you could definitely use a Video Card upgrade. I would recommend at least a GeForce2 GTS or a Radeon.

 

[tcrosson]

A video upgrade is probably in order. I have a Fury 32MB in a computer elsewhere in the house and it's very slow. If you plan on using your system for a while then get a Geforce 3 or Radeon 8500. Otherwise something as old (and still plenty powerful for today's games) as a Geforce 2 or a Radeon 7500 is going to be much faster then that ATI card.

 

[RgrPark]

I got a p3 running at 980 and just upgraded my geforce256 with a GF 3 ti-200
All i can say is that my system smokes any game out there now and if you get a Gainward GF3 ti-200, it's overclock to faster than a GF 3 ti-500 and will have 2D quality as good as an ATI card. AND you get get it from places like newegg for under $170 i think.
CAN'T BEAT THAT.

 

[Menacer]

New video card, absolutely. That video card is REALLY holding you down.. I put an Xpert 2000 (also using the Rage128 chipset) in my old P3-600b to downgrade (when I moved my Radeon LE over to my new Athlon system) and I went from 3500 3dmarks to 800. Games will run on it, but not without lowering the resolution way down. Thankfully, my parents only use that system for browsing the web etc.

Depending on how much you want to spend, you can get a Radeon LE for VERY cheap these days (60 bucks or so) and it'll rock at upgrading your system. It's not very high end at all, but it WILL be a good upgrade.

 

[Rand]

If your willing to play at resolutions of about 800x600x16bpp then your present card is adequate for most modern games. That said, you could get at impressive performance boost for rather cheap if you were to choose to upgrade your graphics card.

You state 2D visual quality as being reasonably important to you and so I would tend to lean towards a Radeon LE for about $60-65 if your on a budget.
If you have a little more to spend then an OEM Radeon 7500 can be had for about $100 dollars and is most certainly capable of playing any modern game without too much difficulty at all.
Naturally their are even higher performance cards available should you be willing to spend more then $100.